The Recipes of Life: A Volunteer’s Journey

Sometimes an experience in life inspires us to change directions. Denine Jones had one of those experiences toward the end of her father-in-law’s life. While spending time with him in the hospital, she realized her calling to become a nurse. As she was helping to honor his end-of-life wishes, it became clearer that her interest was in hospice care.

“I just want to support and empower people who are dying and do what I can to improve their quality of life,” explains Denine. That’s exactly what Denine is doing. For the last three years, in addition to being a nursing student at San Jose State, Denine is a Volunteer Visitor at Hospice of Santa Cruz County.

“It feels good,” she explains. “It feels like I’m doing exactly what I want to do — empowering people to do the things that are important to them.”

Denine has supported many hospice patients as a Volunteer Visitor and one of them stands out in her memory. For nearly a year, Denine spent four hours a week visiting with Rita. Their time together was well planned – they baked. Before her illness, Rita was a caterer and her favorite thing to do was bake. As her cancer progressed, she lost sight in her left eye and the use of her left side making it dangerous for her to do her most cherished activity. “Imagine having all that taken away from you,” Denine explains.

With Denine’s support, Rita found herself back in charge of her kitchen. “Rita would supervise me and tell me what to do. She loved serving people – it gave her so much satisfaction to give the gift of food,” she adds. Their delicious creations were offered to visitors and friends who stopped by to help Rita with odd jobs and chores.

Rita was reluctant to accept a Volunteer Visitor at first. She told the hospice team that she didn’t want someone who just wanted to sit around. She wanted a volunteer who would bake. Denine recalls how they both quickly came to cherish their time together. Rita liked to make two pies so she could send Denine home with one for her family. “It was so beautiful to see how Rita felt she was part of things again by directing me in the kitchen,” she recalls. “Our time together helped Rita feel alive again and useful. Our time together was a real gift for both of us,” she said.

Each fall, Hospice of Santa Cruz County holds a Volunteer Visitor training where community members are trained to support hospice patients and their families. Volunteer Visitors are understanding listeners, the ones who extend a hand to hold, provide companionship and presence that comforts patients and often make it possible for a caregiver to have a few hours of respite. And, in some cases, they bake.

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Since 1978, HSCC
has honored the choices of individuals and families by
providing exemplary end-of-life care and grief support to
our community. As the county’s leading nonprofit provider
of hospice care, our core hospice program is enriched by
community grief support, a children’s bereavement camp, 
transitional care services, pet companion and music therapy
programs, hospice care for veterans, and end-of-life
education and outreach. HSCC serves approximately 3,500 Santa Cruz County residents annually. Learn more at www.hospicesantacruz.org.